Steam Deck's first batch of compatibility rated games are now available for viewing

With Steam Deck currently still on track to meet its revised February 2022 release date, there’s a lot of work going on behind-the-scenes in preparation for launch, including Valve’s extensive drive to rate every game on Steam for compatibility with its highly anticipated portable gaming PC – and the first batch of Steam titles to have received ratings, whether that be a fully compatible Verified or otherwise, have now appeared for perusal online.

Valve first discussed its Steam Deck Verified initiative back in October, announcing it had started reviewing the entire Steam catalog to create a new compatibility ratings system – labeling games as either Verified, Playable, Unsupported, and Unknown – that would provide Steam Deck users with a simple means of checking how games will function on their system.

Four months on, as spotted by users on the Steam Deck subreddit, Valve has starting updating Steam’s database behind-the-scenes to include details of its first Verified games, with a browse of Steamdb.info revealing the company has now added compatibility details for 67 titles.

Steam Deck: Introducing Deck Verified.

To be granted a Verified rating – which denoting full compatibility with Steam Deck – a game must first pass four checks: all functionality must be accessible when using the machine’s default controller configuration, Steam Deck controller icons must be shown in-game, interface text must readable on the display screen, and the default graphics configuration must perform well.

Out of the initial 67 titles currently rated, 39 have passed with flying colors to receive a Verified rating, while 23 have failed at least one test, pushing them down into the Playable category. Valheim, for instance, is noted as sometimes showing mouse, keyboard, or non-Steam Deck controller icons during play, while Subnautica loses a point for the fact some functionality isn’t accessible with the default controller configuration – instead requiring the use of the touchscreen, virtual keyboard, or a community configuration. As for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, “some in-game text may be small and difficult to read.”